Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By : Mason White
Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By: Mason White

Overview of this book

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a new feature of PLC programming that has taken the automation world by storm. This book provides you with the necessary skills to succeed in the modern automation programming environment. The book is designed in a way to take you through advanced topics such as OOP design, SOLID programming, the software development lifecycle (SDLC), library design, HMI development, general software engineering practices, and more. To hone your programming skills, each chapter has a simulated real-world project that’ll enable you to apply the skills you’ve learned. In all, this book not only covers complex PLC programming topics, but it also removes the financial barrier that comes with most books as all examples utilize free software. This means that to follow along, you DO NOT need to purchase any PLC hardware or software. By the end of this PLC book, you will have what it takes to create long-lasting codebases for any modern automation project.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
1
Part 1 – An Introduction to Advanced PLC Programming
6
Part 2 – Modularity and Objects
10
Part 3 – Software Engineering for PLCs
14
Part 4 – HMIs and Alarms
19
Part 5 – Final Project and Thoughts

Final project – creating a simple HMI

For this project, we are going to create a simple HMI that can control a histogram. The HMI we are going to create is going to be straightforward. When a switch is flipped, an LED is going to turn on and a pot will become visible. When the pot appears, we will be able to turn the pot to adjust one of the lines on the histogram. With that in mind, let’s set up some basic requirements.

Requirements for the HMI

The HMI will need the following:

  • Four rocker switches that will control the visibility of four different pots
  • Four LEDs that indicate when the rocker switch is on
  • Four pots that will only be visible when the rocker switch is on
  • Each pot will control exactly one bar on the histogram
  • Both the pots and the histogram will have a range of 0 to 100 (default range)

With these requirements, minimal code is required to make the HMI function as intended. The requirements also dictate that there will...